Golf tee holder usable to form a rake

ABSTRACT

A golf tee holder is described which comprises an elongated spine having a linear row of equi-spaced holes passing therethrough, each hole being shaped to frictionally hold the enlarged upper portion of a respective golf tee, so that the pointed foot portions of the tees will project in parallel relationship to one another from the underside of the spine in the manner of tines of a rake head. The spine is molded from a high impact plastics material and includes an integral generally cylindrical split ferrule which is axially disposed across the top of the spine midway between the ends of the spine. The split ferrule is provided for detachably mounting the tee holder on the grip of a golf club, particularly a sand wedge, in order that the tee holder with a full complement of tees installed therein may be used as a bunker rake head for smoothing out the sand in the bunker following a golf shot therefrom. The holder may be carried in a trousers pocket or be provided with means by which it can be attached, for example, to a golf bag, the user&#39;&#39;s belt or a golf cart.

Amendola [4 1 Mar, 11, 1975 1 1 GOLF TEE HOLDER USABLE TO FORM A RAKE [76] Inventor: Warren R. Amendola, 357 W. Neck Rd., Lloyd Harbor, N.Y. 11743 [22] Filed: May 6, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 467,314

Primary Examiner-George J. Marlo Attorney, Agenr, or Firm-Ladas, Parry, Von Gehr, Goldsmith & Deschamps [57] ABSTRACT A golf tee holder is described which comprises an elongated spine having a linear row of equi-spaced holes passing therethrough, each hole being shaped to frictionally hold the enlarged upper portion of a respective golf tee, so that the pointed foot portions of the tees will project in parallel relationship to one another from the underside of the spine in the manner of tines of a rake head. The spine is molded from a high impact plastics material and includes an integral generally cylindrical split ferrule which is axially disposed across the top of the spine midway between the ends of the spine. The split ferrule is provided for detachably mounting the tee holder on the grip of a golf club, particularly a sand wedge, in order that the tee holder with a full complement of tees installed therein may be used as a bunker rake head for smoothing out the sand in the bunker following a golf shot therefrom. The holder may be carried in a trousers pocket or be provided with means by which it can be attached, for example, to a golf bag, the users belt or a golf cart.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures t l GOLF TEE HOLDER USABLE TO FORM A RAKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in golf tee holders, and is particularly concerned with the provicarts and in supporting boards for score cards. While all such known golf tee holders are well-suited for bolding golf tees, and possibly even a short pencil or an occasional cigarette, their utility stops there.

As every golfer is aware, one of the hazards encountered on a golf course is the bunker or sand trap. Golf etiquette calls for the player to fill and smoothen his footprints and depressions left in the sand after he has hit a golf ball out of the bunker, whether he blasts the ball out with a sand wedge, picks it out cleanly with another iron or a wood, or putts it out with a so called Texas wedge or putter.

Either the player or his caddy attends to the necessary restoration of the bunker surface, generally with a bunker rake left alongside each bunker. such bunker rakes, however, have a way of disappearing on golf courses and, apart from making a proper restoration of bunker surfaces extremely difficult, this has added substantially to the cost of golf course operation. One measure taken to cope with the situation has been to provide cheaply constructed wooden bunker rakes having dowel-like tines, but unfortunately, such tines break off and render the rakes semi-toothless soon after they are put out on the course.

Another measure has been to provide one player in each group with a miniature bamboo leaf rake which is carried in his golf bag, but such a rake interferes with the insertion and withdrawal of clubs from the bag and often requires adjustment of its orientation so as not to stick into the back of the caddy or player carrying the bag.

A further measure taken has been to provide each player with a small rake head for temporary attachment to a golf club shaft. Such a rake head is the subject matter of U.K. Design Registration No. 955,789 issued Mar. 14, 1972. As illustrated therein, the rake head is a one-piece structure having an elongated spine of circular cross-section, with six blunt-ended tines of circular cross-section projecting perpendicularly from one side of the spine in a common plane, the tines being equally spaced from one another over the length of the spine and having equally spaced from one another over the length of the spine and having equal lengths about one-third the spine length. A generally cylindrical split ferrule extends across the opposite side of the spine at the center thereof in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the tines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, a golf tee holder has been provided for temporary attachment to a golf club shaft in the manner of the known rake head. Thus, the tee holder constructed according to the invention ineludes an elongated spine having a generally cylindrical split ferrule which extends across one side of the spine at the center thereof. However, unlike the known rake head, the tee holder does not become a rake head until tees are inserted in and frictionally held by specially contoured bores through the spine, at which time the projecting pointed shafts of the tees provide the tine function heretofore provided by the integral tines of the known bunker rake. Thus, when held in the tee holder constructed according to the invention, tees of equal length will project in a common plane from that side of the spine which is opposite the side having the split ferrule,-being equally spaced from one another over the length of the spine.

It accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved holder for golf tees.

Another object is to provide a golf tee holder for temporary attachment to a golf club shaft for use as a rake head on the shaft, the tees held by the holder serving as the tines of the rake head.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS a position on a golf club shaft where the holder is first placed on the shaft and in full outline at a position on the grip of the shaft to where the holder is slid for use as a rake head;

FIG. 3 shows my golf tee holder holding tees and attached to the grip of a golf club positioned for use as a bunker rake; and,

FIG. 4 shows my golf tee holder being carried at the top of a golf bag by means of an integral clip on the holder.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT face 5. Midway between the ends of upper surface 5 is a generally cylindrical split ferrule 7 integral with spine 3 and disposed substantially tangentially across surface 5 with its axis parallel thereto and perpendicular to the length direction of spine 3. Ferrule 7 is split at its top sufficently to permit the shaft portion just below the grip of a conventional golf club to pass freely through the top. The interior surface 9- of ferrule 7 is slightly conical to match the standared taper of the grip of a conventional golf club, the narrower open end of the ferrule having a diameter permitting the ferrule to slip over the inner end of the club grip and to be slid practically all the way to the outer end of the club grip. The wider open end of ferrule 7 has a diameter which prevents' the ferrule from being slid over and beyond the outer end of the club grip. In an actually constructed working model of tee holder 1, ferrule 7 has an outside diameter of 1.312 inches, a wider open end of 1.000 inch internal diameter, a narrower open end of 0.937

inch internal diameter, a length of 1.125 inches and a top split 0.500 inch wide.

From one end to the other of spine 3 is provided a row of identical bores 11 which pass completely through the spine with their respective axes of symmetry being perpendicular to flat upper surface 5. As shown in FIG. 1, bores 11 are equally spaced from one another, three bores being on each side of ferrule 7 with a seventh bore being within the ferrule. Each bore 11 is shaped to conform substantially with the head shape of the tees to be used, and in the preferred embodiment each bore 11 is complementary in shape to that of the funnel-shaped head 13 of the conventional wooden tee 15 depicted in FIG. 1. The fit is preferably tight so that the tees have to pressed into bores 11 in order for the outer ends of heads 13 to be flush with surface of spine 3.

The underside of spine 3 is cut away between each adjacent pair of bores 11 to form respective bosses 17 of generally inverted frustoconical configuration, each boss 17 being centered around a respective bore 11. As seen in FIG. 1, the pointed shaft portions 19 of tees held in tee holder 1 will project for most of their length from bosses 17 and all portions 19 will lie in a common plane. The spaces between adjacent bosses 17 provide added clearance for sand when tee holder 1 is used as "a bunker rake head and moreover serve to reduce the weight of the tee holder without undue sacrifice of strength and rigidity. In the aforesaid working model, the center to center spacing of adjacent bores 11 is 0.937 inch, the width of upper flat surface 5 is 0.812 inch and the material used is high impact ABS. High impact PVC and high density polypropylene are equally suitable.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a golf club 21 is shown having a shaft 23, grip 25 and club head 27. Tee holder 1 is indicated in dotted outline in position below grip 25 with shaft 23 inside of ferrule 7, the club shaft having been passed through the split open top of the ferrule while holder 1 holds a full complement of tees 15. From this position, holder 1 is slid up shaft 23 onto grip 25 and is slid up the grip until the grip diameter near the end of club 21 prevents further sliding and holder 1 is frictionally bound to grip 25 at its working position indicated in solid outline in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 shows golf club 21 in the process of raking sand in a bunker by means of the rake head formed by tee holder 1 in combination with a full complement of tees, the rake head being positioned on the grip as illustrated in FIG. 2 with club shaft 23 being in inverted inclined position for manipulation in the manner of a rake handle.

FIG. 4 shows a golf bag 29 having tee holder 1 clipped onto a strap 31 by means of a clip 33 forming an integral part of holder 1. As best seen in FIG. 1, clip 33 is disposed on one side of the spine 3 at one end thereof. Any other suitable means may be used to facilitate the ready availability of tee holder 1 to a player or his caddy. For example, instead of clip 33, an integral protuberant part having a hole for receiving a bead chain or hook may be provided at one end of spine 3 in alignment with the common center line of bores 11, whereby tee holder 1 may be hung almost anywhere for convenient dispensing of tees and for ready accessibility when it is to be temporarily attached to a golf club. It will further be appreciated that tee holder 1 may simply be carried in ones pocket or rest on a shelf or tray of a golf cart.

Modifications of tee holder 1 clearly within the scope of the appended claims will occur to those skilled in the art and it is not intended to limit the invention to the specific form thereof illustrated and described herein.

What is claimed is:

1. In a golf tee holder having a plurality of spaced identically shaped bores for receiving complementarily shaped portions of respective golf tees to be held, the improvement comprising:

a. an elongated spine through which said bores are provided, said bores having axes of symmetry which are respectively perpendicular to the length direction of said spine and which lie in a common plane, the shape of said bores being complementary to that of the respective head portions of the golf tees to be held; and

b. a generally cylindrical split ferrule integral with said spine and disposed athwart said spine midway between the spine ends for temporarily attaching said tee holder to a golf club shaft by frictional engagement of the ferrule interior with a grip on said shaft, said ferrule being in substantially tangential relationship to a spine surface at which the golf tees to be held are insertable in said bores, said tee holder, when holding a full complement of golf tees, thereby serving as a rake head whose tines are the respective pointed shaft portions of said tees.

2. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein said spine surface is substantially flat and lies perpendicular to said common plane of said bore axes of symmetry.

3. The improvement according to claim 2, wherein the side of said spine opposed to said substantially flat spine surface is cut away between each adjacent pair of said bores to form respective bosses of generally inverted frustoconical configuration, each of said bosses being centered around a respective one of said bores.

4. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein said ferrule interior is tapered and has a maximum diameter slightly less than that of the golf club grip with which it is frictionally engageable.

5. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein three of said bores are provided on each side of said ferrule, with a seventh bore being within said ferrule.

6. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein equal spacing is provided between each adjacent pair of said bores.

7. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein said spine and ferrule constitute a one-piece molded structure of rigid plastics material selected from the group consisting of high impact ABS, high impact PVC and high density polypropylene.

8. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein the spine is provided with means at one end thereof for hanging said tee holder from any suitable cooperating article. 

1. In a golf tee holder having a pluraLity of spaced identically shaped bores for receiving complementarily shaped portions of respective golf tees to be held, the improvement comprising: a. an elongated spine through which said bores are provided, said bores having axes of symmetry which are respectively perpendicular to the length direction of said spine and which lie in a common plane, the shape of said bores being complementary to that of the respective head portions of the golf tees to be held; and b. a generally cylindrical split ferrule integral with said spine and disposed athwart said spine midway between the spine ends for temporarily attaching said tee holder to a golf club shaft by frictional engagement of the ferrule interior with a grip on said shaft, said ferrule being in substantially tangential relationship to a spine surface at which the golf tees to be held are insertable in said bores, said tee holder, when holding a full complement of golf tees, thereby serving as a rake head whose tines are the respective pointed shaft portions of said tees.
 1. In a golf tee holder having a pluraLity of spaced identically shaped bores for receiving complementarily shaped portions of respective golf tees to be held, the improvement comprising: a. an elongated spine through which said bores are provided, said bores having axes of symmetry which are respectively perpendicular to the length direction of said spine and which lie in a common plane, the shape of said bores being complementary to that of the respective head portions of the golf tees to be held; and b. a generally cylindrical split ferrule integral with said spine and disposed athwart said spine midway between the spine ends for temporarily attaching said tee holder to a golf club shaft by frictional engagement of the ferrule interior with a grip on said shaft, said ferrule being in substantially tangential relationship to a spine surface at which the golf tees to be held are insertable in said bores, said tee holder, when holding a full complement of golf tees, thereby serving as a rake head whose tines are the respective pointed shaft portions of said tees.
 2. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein said spine surface is substantially flat and lies perpendicular to said common plane of said bore axes of symmetry.
 3. The improvement according to claim 2, wherein the side of said spine opposed to said substantially flat spine surface is cut away between each adjacent pair of said bores to form respective bosses of generally inverted frustoconical configuration, each of said bosses being centered around a respective one of said bores.
 4. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein said ferrule interior is tapered and has a maximum diameter slightly less than that of the golf club grip with which it is frictionally engageable.
 5. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein three of said bores are provided on each side of said ferrule, with a seventh bore being within said ferrule.
 6. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein equal spacing is provided between each adjacent pair of said bores.
 7. The improvement according to claim 1, wherein said spine and ferrule constitute a one-piece molded structure of rigid plastics material selected from the group consisting of high impact ABS, high impact PVC and high density polypropylene. 